Patrick to join march for gay pride (MA Gov)

Boston Globe ^ | 6/8/07 | Lisa Wangsness

[raccoonradio]

This weekend, on the eve of what could be a historic and final vote on same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick will become the first sitting governor in state history to march in Boston's gay pride parade, according to organizers.

Patrick, who marched in the last two Boston pride parades as a candidate for governor, has been working to help defeat a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, which the Legislature is scheduled to vote on at a constitutional convention next week.

Patrick appeared last night at an event sponsored by the advocacy group MassEquality, featuring prominent lawyers who oppose the amendment. The governor once again defended gay marriage as a matter of basic equality, but he also made a pragmatic argument in favor of defeating the same-sex marriage ban.

"Even if you don't agree with us about the rightness of the question, smart political people have got to appreciate . . . if we don't put this question to rest at the con-con, this is all we will do for the next two years," Patrick said. "And there is an awful lot of other business, important to you and everyone else here in the commonwealth about strengthening this economy and our public schools and our healthcare system that demands the attention of the folks on Beacon Hill."

Organizers of the pride parade, scheduled for Saturday, say they are pleased Patrick will make this year's march a historic occasion.

[raccoonradio]

He would prefer that the people don't even get a chance to vote on it.

>>if we don't put this question to rest at the con-con, this is all we will do for the next two years

In other words, he'd like the Legislature to defeat the effort to get the issue on the ballot.

[raccoonradio]

more: "For us, it symbolizes the progressiveness we've got in Massachusetts," said Linda DeMarco, president of the board of directors of the Boston Pride Committee. "Nobody is ashamed to march straight on, shoulder to shoulder with us."

Mayor Thomas M. Menino will also march in this year's parade, as he has throughout his tenure as mayor, DeMarco said.

Patrick's position on gay marriage starkly contrasts with that of Governor Mitt Romney , who campaigned against same-sex marriage in what was widely seen as an attempt to build his conservative credentials during the last two years of his tenure, while he explored a run for president. In a television ad for his presidential campaign last month, Romney boasted that he "stood up for traditional marriage" while governor.

Patrick, by contrast, built a large network of support in the gay community in his campaign last year, and he regularly appears at events sponsored by gay rights groups. At the moment, he and his aides are spending a large portion of their time trying to gather the votes to defeat the same-sex marriage ban next week. Last night Patrick left open the possibility that a vote could be delayed beyond next Thursday, if the votes are not in place to defeat it.

One supporter of the amendment shrugged off the governor's appearances at gay-related events this week, but he complained about Patrick's efforts to defeat the gay marriage ban, which will go on the 2008 ballot if it gets at least 50 votes at the constitutional convention.

"He can go where he wants; it's his prerogative," said former state representative Philip Travis, Democrat of Rehoboth, who plans to watch the Constitutional Convention in the House chamber. "But he is running away from the issue at hand. Let the people vote, and the only way they can vote is if the Legislature makes that decision."

[raccoonradio]

Deval and friend.

[Puppage]

[SmithL]

The deval’s in the details.

[RexBeach]

When I read stories like this, I thank God that I moved out of Massachusetts many years ago.

Governor Patrick, I believe, might very well out do Mike Dukakis as the worst governor in the history of the Commonwealth.

You know what the words are at the bottom of every Gubernatorial proclamation are? No kidding, now:

GOD SAVE THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS!

Fairly ironic, ay?

[twonie]

Are we sure his name is not Fitzpatarick? Really sure?

[Bitsy]

Wow! The gay march will look great on his resume!

[raccoonradio]

>>trying to gather the votes to defeat the same-sex marriage ban next week

Note that the Boston Globe-Democrat tries to make it sound like there will be a vote to defeat the same-sex marriage ban next week. No. There will be a vote as to whether or not to
allow the issue on the ballot. Is Deval for taking away the
right of the people (upon petitioning their grievances)
to vote? That’s what it amounts to. (It goes on the ballot
if more than 50 legislators vote to send it forward, IIRC)

[raccoonradio]

I’m really surprised that Patrick did not choose David Scondras* to be his running mate. If he wanted to get the
gay vote... :)

*—former Boston city councillor, out of the closet, who was defeated in re-election attempt after he made a series of booze-fueled
calls to 911 asking to speak to the police commissioner.
Later he assaulted a teen boy in a movie theater (kid knocked out some of his teeth) and, more
recently, was arrested in Lawrence, MA after he (using the
screen name Topdadd) tried to meet what he thought was a 15 yr old
boy for sex. And no, Chris Hansen of Dateline NBC was NOT
there, but the local constabulary was. Haven’t heard what became of that case.

[raccoonradio]

Like Dukakis all over again!

[raccoonradio]

DevalPatrickWatch, May 10:
“Gov. Deval Patrick has dangled job offers in front of anti-gay-marriage lawmakers to persuade them to switch their votes and kill a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex nuptials, sources said.”

[Egon]

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
You are unlikely to get AIDS in a public restroom unless you sit down on a toilet before the previous person vacates.

[AU72]

I hope they place him between the “Dikes on Bikes” and the contingent from the “RamRod Club”.

[Little Bill]

He lobbied on the floor ,of The General Court, unheard of. Then again there is no Mass pol who can not be bought, rather cheaply at that.

[Diogenesis]

"Rapists. Yes. Citizens voting. No."

[gidget7]

You are right raccoon, and if Patrick has his way, this will never make it to the balance.

MA is a socialist cesspool! It has gotten even worse since Devil took office, and is it any wonder? He is 0 on a scale of 1-10 in know;ledge of the job or government experience. He is an alternative action puppet.

And it isn’t just Patrick or just Boston. In Springfield, the town is looking at or voting on or whatever, putting a law in place, to reduce crime no less, to tell repeat offenders of say drug dealing, they are not welcome in the city. I kid you not! They obviously know they are repeat offenders, know who and where they are, and instead of locking them up they send them to neighboring towns. Not their problem if they kick them out of town!!

There isn’t any rationality or reality left in MA govt!

[gidget7]

DevalPatrickWatch, May 10:
“Gov. Deval Patrick has dangled job offers in front of anti-gay-marriage lawmakers to persuade them to switch their votes and kill a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex nuptials, sources said.”

Bribery...........disgusting, and unfortunately nothing new in MA.

Check this out, in regard to the so called gay pride week.

Head fundraiser for “Gay Pride Week” was convicted of child pornography charges. “Pride” officials tell local newspaper they knew about it and were comfortable with it.

---

This seems to happen over and over again: A major player in the homosexual movement turns out to be a child molester, or involved with child pornography, or some kind of sex offender. His colleagues don’t seem to see what the fuss is, but he resigns anyway.

Bill Berggren - the head of fundraising for “Gay Pride Week”, is also the associate publisher of the homosexual newspaper “InNewsWeekly”. And also (why doesn’t this surprise us) it turns out he’s a convicted sex offender.

Berggren has quite a history, it turns out. He’s been convicted on child pornography possession charges, he pled guilty to indecent assault against a 19-year-old, was found guilty of showing pornography to six teenagers, and was found guilty of providing alcohol to a minor.

(MassResistance had actually found out some of this several weeks ago, and the story was publicly broken by a local “alternative” newspaper as we were about to release it.)

Berggren told the “Weekly Dig” newspaper that the Boston Pride Committee knew about his criminal record and feels it’s not an issue. “Everything I am doing is 18-plus events,” he told the newspaper. “They know who I am, they know what I’ve done, And they appreciate my work.” The newspaper added that interviews with former and current Pride volunteers made it clear that the organization doesn’t consider Berggren’s sex-offender status an issue.

Would normal people find this to be a problem? This really shows the mentality of the “gay” movement.

But nevertheless, Berggren finally felt the need to resign from the Pride committee, for appearances’ sake, although he’s still with the homosexual newspaper.

And by the way, Boston’s other homosexual newspaper, Bay Windows, reportedly knew about Berggren’s record for years, but had declined to report on it. Only the news that’s fit to print, we guess.

Here’s our full report from the MassResistance Blog:
http://massresistance.blogspot.com/2007/05/boston-pride-board-member-revealed-as.html

One more thing: The Weekly Dig now reports that “Boston Pride has contracted with the Human Rights Campaign to run criminal offender record information (CORI) and sex-offender record information (SORI) checks on all volunteers working in family areas.” Well, it’s about time, but the problem is unfortunately a lot deeper”

Not to mention powers that be has taken massresistence off the air. That reeks of free speech, freedom of the press violations.

[Flashman_at_the_charge]

Give him a break, Patrick just wants to be, The People's Princess.

[Make It In Mass]

Deval received $3 million from Arlene Isaacson of the Mass Teacher’s Union, but that money is used only for influence by the homosexual lobby and not for education. When Arlene calls, deval had damn well better take the call.